Property tycoon Ong Beng Seng has been granted judicial mercy by the courts, and fined the maximum stipulated sum of $30,000 for abetting the obstruction of justice.The 79-year-old, who has incurable cancer, listened intently as District Judge Lee Lit Cheng passed the sentence on Friday (Aug 15) afternoon.The offence of abetting the obstruction of justice carries a jail term of up to seven years, or a fine, or both.Ong pleaded guilty on Aug 4 to one charge of abetting former Transport Minister S. Iswaran in obstructing the course of justice.A second charge of abetting a public servant in obtaining gifts will be taken into consideration for sentencing. Iswaran was handed a 12-month jail term on Oct 3, 2024. This term included four months' jail for obstructing the course of justice by making payment to Singapore GP to cover the cost of the flight from Singapore to Doha.Judge Lee noted Ong's «lower culpability», as it was Iswaran who had asked Ong to bill him for the Doha trip.Judicial mercy is when the courts give leniency to offenders with exceptional personal circumstances, on humanitarian grounds.  

Dr Lee Wei Ling, the daughter of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, has a wish fulfilled nearly a year after her death.In a Facebook post on Thursday (Aug 14), Lee Hsien Yang said that he took his sister «on one last boat ride» from Edinburgh, Scotland to scatter her ashes out at sea.«Farewell Ling. My principled, steadfast and indomitable sister,» he added.Dr Lee, a neurologist, died at the age of 69 on Oct 9, 2024, four years after she was diagnosed with a rare, degenerative brain disease.Lee described the country where he strewn Dr Lee's ashes upon the waves as one that held deep significance for both of them.He recalled: «Ling and I went to Scotland on our own when we were still in school. We toured the countryside, and stayed in Edinburgh, climbed Arthur’s Seat, and visited Edinburgh castle.»She returned by herself from time to time over the years for her medical exams, and to hike the rugged hills she loved so much."

Property tycoon Ong Beng Seng has arrived at the State Courts on Friday (Aug 15) to await the sentencing of his case linked to former transport minister S. Iswaran.The 79-year-old Malaysian pleaded guilty on Aug 4 to one charge of abetting Iswaran in obstructing the course of justice. A second charge of abetting a public servant in obtaining gifts will be taken into consideration for sentencing.Before his hearing scheduled for 2.30pm, Ong arrived wearing a white shirt and a mask.He remained silent as he walked into court alongside his lawyers and staff.[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@asiaone/video/7538692473908989202[/embed]Ong suffers from multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer, and other health issues.If convicted of abetting the obstruction of justice, he may face a jail term of up to seven years, or a fine, or both.[[nid:720857]]At the Aug 4 hearing, the defence asked the court to exercise judicial mercy, on grounds that sending Ong to prison would significantly endanger his life.

There is no train service on the Sengkang-Punggol LRT (SPLRT) due to a power fault, said rail operator SBS Transit on Friday morning (Aug 15). In a Facebook post just before 9am, SBS Transit added that free regular bus services are available at designated bus stops near affected stations and Sengkang bus interchange.It added that free bridging bus services are also available. The Friday morning disruption comes three days after a power switchboard failed and caused a major disruption affecting 11 MRT stations on the Northeast Line and the entire SPLRT. [[nid:721257]]editor@asiaone.com

A python spotted at a coffee shop along Teck Whye Lane was seen lunging at some members of the public when they tried to capture it using brooms.In a video posted to the Sgfollowsall Instagram page on Wednesday (Aug 13), a large python can be seen slithering along the roof of a coffee shop located at Block 145 Teck Whye Lane as a crowd watches.One man is then seen standing on a chair while trying to take a video of the snake.Shortly after this, the python falls off the roof and starts slithering away. A few men give chase, hitting it with brooms.The snake then lunges at them, seemingly in retaliation, and this causes some people in the crowd to scream.Throughout the nearly three-minute-long video, various onlookers prod, hit or pin down the snake as it tries to go further into the coffee shop and even into a stall.One man can also be seen gripping onto the snake's tail in an attempt to hold it back as it thrashes and resists.One grabs the snake's headThe ordeal ended when a middle-aged man grabbed the python's head and shoved it into a plastic bag before instructing another man holding its tail to do the same.

SINGAPORE — Instructed by his former stepfather to steal a luxury watch worth more than $47,000 from a Carousell user, a teenager «chickened out» three times before finally doing so with the help of a friend.Nigel Tan, 19, was also promised by the older man a larger share of the proceeds from the sale of the watch.Nigel was sentenced to reformative training on Aug 14 after pleading guilty to one count of cheating.His former stepfather, Kyoshirocaeden Tan Lee Yu, 37, is still at large.Nigel's accomplice, Lucian Tan Keat Hong, 20, was also arrested, but court documents do not state if he has been charged.Kyoshirocaeden Tan married Nigel's mother when the boy was about three years old. After the couple divorced in 2019, Nigel began living with Tan from 2022. The older man was unemployed, while Nigel worked as a bartender.On April 22, 2024, Tan told Nigel he needed money badly and asked for the youth's help to cheat someone into handing over an expensive watch, so they could sell it.

Singapore and India reaffirmed close ties and discussed areas to strengthen bilateral collaboration during the third India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) on Wednesday (Aug 13) in New Delhi.In a doorstop interview after the conclusion of the ISMR, DPM Gan said that Singapore's six-member delegation held productive talks with their Indian counterparts and detailed potential collaborations regarding sustainability, digitalisation, skills development, healthcare and medicine, advanced manufacturing, and connectivity. In particular, DPM Gan highlighted interest from Singaporean companies to set up a semiconductor ecosystem between the two nations in hopes of strengthening their supply chains.Citing the «very long and complex» supply chains where different semiconductor parts are often manufactured at separate locations, DPM Gan said that it is important for businesses to diversify their pipelines so that they are less susceptible to disruption, alluding to the external disruptions caused by US tariffs.

A former secondary school teacher has been sentenced to jail for targeting three teenage girls and trying to engage in sexual activities with them on separate occasions in 2021.The 33-year-old man, who was referred to as a «sexual predator» by prosecution, pleaded guilty to four charges under the Children and Young Persons Act on Aug 11 and was sentenced to nine months' jail.The man cannot be named due to a gag order protecting the victims’ identities.Responding to AsiaOne's queries the Ministry of Education stated that the man is no longer working as a teacher, and stopped working for the ministry in March 2022.Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Bryan Wong told the court that the man was posted to the school in 2017 and had given advice to its student councillors.He also regularly received and accepted «follow» requests from students on his personal Instagram account.The man got to know one of the victims when he taught her in Secondary 1. The pair followed each other on Instagram, and she left the school some time before 2021.

The size of the compensation package and rehousing options will weigh heavily in their decision to sell their HDB flats back to the Government under the Voluntary Early Redevelopment Scheme (Vers), elderly residents living in older estates have said.They were reacting to National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat’s remarks in an interview that his ministry aims to use the current term of Parliament to develop the policy framework for the scheme.This includes identifying possible sites where the scheme will be first offered, ensuring that there are sufficient homes for those involved to relocate to, and working out a fair compensation package for residents whose flats are taken back early.Once the policy parameters are in place, Vers will be progressively offered to a “few selected” sites likely from the first half of the next decade when the flats there are about 70 years old, Chee said.Vers was first announced by then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in 2018 to allow the Government to buy back flats nearing their 99-year lease by compensating residents and redeveloping the land.